A popular TikiTok chef, who also doubles as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, has drawn the ire of social media after his recently resurfaced tweets showed him making disparaging comments about Black women.
Waymond Wesley II, who is popularly known as Chef Way on social media, is followed by hundreds of thousands of social media users. And though Wesley also made a name for himself on social media with his famous oxtail pasta recipe, his old and disparaging tweets about Black women have left a sour taste in the mouths of several people, ABC13 reported.
Wesley, who was employed by the D.A.’s office in 2021, is said to have shared the controversial tweets between 2015 and 2016. At the time, he used the handle @WaymoTheGod. And though that account has since been deleted, the screenshots of some of those controversial tweets were recently circulated.
In some of his posts, Wesley allegedly made disparaging remarks about dark skin women as well as body types, Click2Houston.com reported. The under-fire chef is also said to have likened Black women to garbage. Following the circulation of the tweets, users on the social media platform reportedly labeled Wesley’s posts as colorist, anti-Black and misogynistic.
In the wake of the backlash, Wesley released a statement rendering an apology to those he hurt in his resurfaced tweets. “To those I’ve hurt with my past tweets that have resurfaced, I am deeply sorry,” he shared on his social media platforms. “That was a moment in my life when I was sick in more ways than one. Cooking saved me. You have watched a flawed man heal. I will continue to heal and learn. Thanks for being along for the journey.”
Although multiple social media users also called on the D.A.’s office to terminate Wesley, the county’s District Attorney Kim Ogg released a statement in support of the under-fire chef and lawyer.
“We recently learned of comments he made on social media posts nearly seven years ago. These posts were inappropriate and offensive and do not reflect my values or those of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office,” Ogg said. “Mr. Wesley has explained that these posts came during a period in which he was struggling with serious personal issues, including alcohol addiction. Prior to joining our office, Mr. Wesley went through treatment and has worked with the State Bar of Texas to resolve his issues.”
Ogg added: “His recovery is ongoing. I am a believer in second chances, and Mr. Wesley has conducted himself professionally since joining our staff. I am confident that will continue.”
But in an interview with ABC13, Vanessa Gilmore, a retired U.S. District Judge, said an apology doesn’t suffice. “It’s not that he doesn’t deserve forgiveness. It’s that he does not deserve to be in a place that, one, shows that he may not be able to be fair in terms of his own decision-making process, and two, where it disparages and undermines people’s confidence in the justice system,” Gilmore said.
Responding to the resurfaced tweets, Tastemade released a statement saying the chef had been removed from its platform. “We’re shocked and disappointed to see this past behavior coming from a partner creator; behavior that we do not condone and certainly does not align with our values,” the company said. “He has been removed from our platform, and we do not plan to collaborate in the future.”
Anova Culinary also announced it had “completely cut ties with this person as we strive to only work with partners who share our core values.”
